Rachel Purdy loves adventure. For five years, she traveled North America in an RV, working as a freelance journalist and writing a travel blog. Her love of travel was cemented after receiving a grant to study modern short stories at the University of Cambridge. She is pursuing a master’s degree in fine arts from George Mason University, where she studies creative nonfiction writing. As a recipient of the 2018 Cheuse Center travel fellowship, Rachel traveled to the Balkans, where she will be writing about that region through the lens of coffee and coffee shops.